Remembering President Hinckley

Last night, Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints passed away at the age of 97 from causes due to age.

I have been alive for three prophets, but President Hinckley is the first one I really remember and had come to love. Ezra Taft Benson was prophet when I was born, but I was still very young when he died. Howard W. Hunter was sustained as prophet when I was about seven or eight, but at that time, I wasn't paying attention in General Conference. He led the Church for only nine months before he died.

President Hinckley really put the Church on the map. He was interviewed by the likes of Larry King. He was awarded a Presidential Medal of Honor by President Bush.

He instituted the "Be's" that are oft quoted by the youth of The Church. They were instituted when I was in high school.

When he became prophet, there were less than one hundred temples on the earth. His goal was to surpass 100. There are over 120 temples in operation. One of the temples he dedicated was the Houston Texas Temple--my home temple. The Nauvoo Temple was also rebuilt.

My mother was able to meet President Hinckley on a few occasions. She played the organ in some meetings he presided over in both Houston and Tokyo. In fact, one of those times was three weeks before I was born, and he did speak to her after the meeting. That is the closest I have ever been to him. On one of those occasions, he wrote to my mother thanking her for the beautiful music she provided in the meetings he was in.

He is very much missed, but now he has been reunited with his wife, who passed away nearly four years ago. He did so much for our Church, and now his work is finished.

We love you President Hinckley. God be with you, till we meet again.

proofreading marks...wha?!

As I have mentioned before, I am taking my first official editing class at BYU. As an editor, we have to learn all the fancy little squiggly marks to help people write better. So, I have to wonder, why do we have to basically scribble on the writer's paper to get them to write better? It doesn't look too pretty. Maybe it's to help the writer see just how much work they need to do or maybe some editor out got so bored with drawing lines through the mistakes writers make and started doodling...and then came up with a proofreading system through the doodles! If that's the case, it sure works because trying to remember which proofreading mark to use for an error is somewhat of an adventure itself.

Who knew that doodling could make better writers?

And who said that editors weren't artists? We editors are so underrated. It's the writers who get all the credit. Behind every great writer is an even better editor...ha ha.

This entry was written out of boredom and out of a need to update. I'm sorry if it doesn't make a lot of sense.

2008 so far

I haven't posted here in a little while. It's not that I haven't wanted to, but I am still figuring out what exactly I want to write about here.

So, I'll begin where I left off. I turned 21 on Christmas Day. You read right. I am a Christmas baby. About six years ago, I thought that 21 was so old, but now that I've reached that age, I don't feel old at all. In fact, I still feel immature on so many levels. Now that I'm 21, I can serve a mission for my church if I want to; I am still undecided on that point. I can legally drink alcohol, but I have chosen not to drink. I can also be tried as an adult if I commit a crime. Hopefully, that won't happen to me.

It was a good Christmas/birthday. I got an iPod (finally!). It's really cool too--not only can I listen to music on it but I can store pictures on it too. I got the book Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit. It's a really good book and I will post more about it in the future. I got other things too. We had quite a few guests over for dinner: a set of Elders (guy missionaries) in my ward; my violin teacher; my aunt and uncle who live in Humble; and a single guy in our ward. How many girls can say that the missionaries came over for her birthday? Hah! And as it turns out, one of those missionaries was a year younger than me! The other one was four months older than me. It's weird when the missionaries are your age and younger. And now I'm old enough to serve!

There were two weddings during the break. We hosted the wedding reception for one of them, and once again I did not catch the bouquet. *laughs* I don't care that much.

I also got my hair cut :) It's shoulder length now and we're pretty close to getting rid of all the damage that was done to it by previous hairdressers.

I came back to Provo on January 5. I did not want to come back! But I'm glad to be back now. I have my own room since my roommate moved home. I miss her very much, but it is nice to have my own room.

Classes seem good so far. I'm going to be pretty busy this semester. Here are the classes I'm taking:

English Language 327 (Phonetics and Phonology)
Music 101 (Introduction to Music)
English Language 350: Basic Editing Skills
Religion 393 (LDS Temples)
University Orchestra

I signed up for internship credit for the job I have, but I think I'll drop it because my classes are going to be a lot of work this semester and I have to do assignments to prove the internship people that I'm doing it. I'm still doing my internship, but not for credit.

The only bone I have to pick with my schedule is that my Editing class is 2.5 hours long on Tuesday nights...aggh!

I've already written a lot, but I promise to write more soon.

Status: home for Christmas

Yesterday, I flew back to the great state of Texas and now I am here writing to you.  It's nice to be home, though as always, a little weird.  I am also four days from turning 21...woot.

And guess what?  I GREW!!!  Well, a half-inch.  I am no longer a mere 5'4" but a whopping 5'4 1/2".  I am no longer considered short, but average.  I know it's odd that I'm growing after sixteen, but it's a common occurence in my mom's family.  My mom got her full height in college, albeit she is taller than I am.  That would explain why a friend of mine told me that I wasn't as "short" as he remembered me being before he went on his mission *laughs*.

I also got thinner this semester; I didn't think that would be possible with how much I've been eating; but I haven't been snacking as much as I used to partly because I was hardly home.  Now I need to buy new pants.  I'm not complaining too much; but my new size isn't easily found.  I'm not sure I like that, but at the same time...it's flattering.  

So that's my news: I'm taller and thinner.  Just in time for my twenty-first birthday!

Status: done with finals!

So, I am officially done with finals as of yesterday. Now I am at my internship, just finishing off some hours. I'm going to find some time go home and pack...ugh, I dislike packing. I leave tomorrow morning for the airport at about 9:30 (the shuttle is taking me). My flight leaves around 1:30 and I'll land in Houston at 5 something in the afternoon. I'm pretty exciting to be going home. Home cooking is something I'm very much looking forward to :)

Tonight, I am supposed to watch "The Village " for the very first time in my entire life. Apparently it's one of those movies I "have to see". I'll give my review on it.

I am also six days from my 21st birthday. Pretty exciting. I remember joking with my non-Mormon friends that I would be legal before they were--and one said: "Man, that's a waste of privileges." Ha ha. Well, I could go into a self-righteous rant of the evils of alcohol, but I'm sure they would fall upon deaf ears....or blind eyes, in this case.

Later. This computer is weird.

finals week...blagh

Well, to tell the truth...I really shouldn't be stressing so much. I've already got three finals down and one more to go. How did that happen? Well, I only had four classes this semester because of my internship. My orchestra "final" was last Tuesday (my concert). I had to turn in an analysis for my ELANG 326 (Semantics) class on Thursday and that was my final. My ELANG 324 (History of English Language) final was this morning. Now I just have to take my MFHD 210 (Child Development) final and I'll be done for the semester. I can take it anytime because it's in the testing center all week.

I officially fly back home on Thursday. Pretty exciting. I actually get to see my mom perform Handel's Messiah this year! I missed it last year because the concert was the week before I came home...tragedy. For those who don't know, my mom sings with the Houston Symphony Chorus and they perform Handel's Messiah. She says it's her Christmas present to herself, meaning it's how she gets through the season without going crazy.

I am a little sad because my roommate Alyce is moving home to prepare for her mission. She's pretty much one of the reasons I haven't gone insane this semester--but there's always e-mail and facebook.

My birthday is in eight days--I'll be 21! Yikes! That means not only that I'm old enough to serve a mission (I am undecided, in case you are wondering) but also that I'm an "old maid" by BYU standards, ha ha. I'm not too bitter about that, I'm still young. I just get bitter about the dating scene around here...I'll post on that another time.

Back to productivity...sigh.

My first post!

I used to do xanga, but not many people seem to do that anymore, and while this seems to be a trend for the married folk at BYU, I'll still do this as a single person :) I'll keep the xanga and continue writing some posts there.

I kinda got this so I could post opinions and such, and it looks like the picture settings are more ideal. I'll be linking to this page from my facebook.

So, how shall I start? I'll explain the title of my blog. One of my mom's nicknames for me is "La Petite". There are several reasons for that nickname. The first is that I've always been "petite", if you will. My height measures in at a whopping 5'4". The next: I've been studying French for several years. And another: "La" is the first syllable of my name; the full nickname should be (I think) Laura Petite, but La Petite just sounds cuter. Hah. So there you have it!